‘Crunch-time’: Sanchez working to salvage his career
On the first day of spring training, Sixto Sanchez made a proclamation.
“This is the year,” Sanchez said. “I have been working a lot on myself and giving all I’ve got so I can get back.”
After three years of trials and tribulations, setback after setback, Sanchez knows he’s running out of chances. The once highly touted prospect has gone from being viewed as a potential ace for the Miami Marlins to now just trying to salvage any opportunity he can get to return to the big leagues.
With Sanchez out of minor-league options, the 25-year-old right-handed pitcher has to either make the Marlins’ Opening Day roster or start the season on the injured list in order to stay in the organization without being subjected to waivers.
In simplest terms, it’s now or never for Sanchez to show the Marlins he can still be of value to the organization.
“It is crunch-time in terms of where he’s at,” Marlins pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre Jr. said during the first week of camp. “... As an organization, definitely we need to see something. He’s got to pitch.”
Sanchez took the first step in making his case on Saturday when he threw a perfect fifth inning in a spring training game against the New York
Mets at Jupiter’s Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
He needed 14 pitches to retire Jose Iglesias (flyout to right field), Taylor Kohlway (popout to second base) and DJ Stewart (strikeout looking).
Outside of a one-inning appearance with Double A Pensacola late last season, Saturday was Sanchez’s first appearance in a live game since March 25, 2021.
After throwing mostly offspeed and breaking pitches to begin the outing, Sanchez went on to fire a handful of fastballs toward the end, topping out at 95.3 mph.
“Last night, I was thinking about it,” Sanchez said. “I was thinking about how I was going to do. ‘How am I going to pitch?’ Everything went well, thank goodness. Many of my teammates were telling me ‘Let’s do this. You can do this.’”
Now comes the key question: If the Marlins believe he can help the team in any capacity, what is his path toward making the big-league club? Even though he has been a starter for his entire career, could a shift to the bullpen where he would need to pitch only in shorter stints, be the best way to get him involved? Or will Miami try to build him up and have him compete for a rotation spot?
Manager Skip Schumaker, entering his second season with the Marlins and thus not having seen Sanchez pitch in a live game in person until Saturday, said that decision will be made in due time.
“We’re going to see how he feels tomorrow,” Schumaker said postgame
Saturday. “That’s kind of the plan. See how he recovers first and then we’ll figure it out later.”
At the start of camp, Stottlemyre said the Marlins are “keeping everything open” in regards to a role for Sanchez.
“If we can get him pitching,” Stottlemyre said, “it’s a win-win for whatever role.”
Especially after the journey and speed bumps that have gotten Sanchez to this point.
To recap:
Sanchez was the headliner in the Marlins’ trade with the Philadelphia Phillies in February 2019, coming to Miami along with catcher Jorge Alfaro and pitcher prospect Will Stewart in exchange for
All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto. Sanchez immediately became the Marlins’ top prospect, with MLB Pipeline’s scouting report at the time saying he had “perhaps the best combination of electric stuff and command of any pitcher in the Minor Leagues” when healthy.
Sanchez made his MLB debut on Aug. 22, 2020, and was part of the Marlins’ rotation the rest of the season as Miami made the playoffs in the pandemic-shortened season.
Sanchez dazzled with a five-pitch mix — a fourseam fastball that averaged 98.5 mph, a sinker that averaged 96.6 mph, a cutter that averaged 89.1 mph, a changeup that averaged 89 mph and a slider that averaged 85.8 mph.
He posted a 3.46 ERA with 33 strikeouts against 11 walks in 39 innings over seven regular-season starts, then threw five shutout innings in Game 2 of the Marlins’ wild-card series against the Chicago Cubs before giving up four runs on four hits and three walks in three innings in the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves on Oct. 8, 2020.
And that, essentially, was the last we’ve seen of Sanchez in a meaningful capacity.
Shoulder discomfort ahead of the 2021 season has since led to two surgeries.
Sanchez reported to spring training in 2023 in good spirits and in better shape, having lost about 45 pounds over the offseason. However, his work was limited to catch sessions and bullpens on the back fields. He pitched in extended spring training games in late April and early May before experiencing shoulder soreness that shut him down and restarted his throwing progression.
Four months after that brief shutdown — and nearly three full years since his last MLB appearance — Sanchez finally took the mound again and pitched one shutout inning for the Double A Pensacola Blue Wahoos on Sept. 12.
Fast-forward to this spring, and Sanchez now feels close to 100 percent. He is still working on building up his velocity and getting to a point where he is fully confident in all of his pitches.
But Saturday provided a glimpse of his return.
His shoulder shimmy after big plays returned. He didn’t let a rough bullpen session in which he felt “weird” and his pitches weren’t landing where he wanted faze him before getting on the mound.
And then 14 pitches later, Sanchez walked off the mound with his head held high.
Sanchez called his return to the mound a “feeling of greatness.” He doesn’t want that feeling to fade away.
“I’m going to continue preparing myself,” Sanchez said, “and go out there again.”